1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a training machine for training muscles of a human body, mainly of an upper body.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, there have been known training machines (muscle training machines) for training muscles such as the one disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H09-294823. This training machine is for training the muscles of a human body, mainly those at and near upper arms, wherein a seat pad as a seat and a lumber support pad as a seat back rest are provided on a specified frame, and a foot rest projecting forward from the frame and an assist bar are provided at positions before the seat pad. Operation levers U-shaped in front view and mounted on the frame in such a manner as to be rotatable forward and backward about the bottom end thereof are provided at a middle position between the foot rest and the seat pad. This operation lever is connected with weights via a wire rope, and is inclined toward the seat pad by the weight of the weights.
A training person places his feet on the foot rest or assist bar while sitting on the seat pad, and trains the muscles at and near his upper arms by operating the operation lever forward and backward while holding a pair of grips formed at the leading ends of the operation lever. In other words, since a force against the weight of the weights needs to be exerted upon operating the operation lever forward, the muscles are trained at this time. Also upon returning the operation lever backward, the muscles are trained by slowly operating the operation lever against the weight of the weights.
A plurality of weights are hung on the wire rope while being placed one over another, and an amount of exercise conforming to the training person can be obtained by increasing or decreasing the number of the weights. The assist bar is for assisting the operation of the operation lever by placing the foot thereon.
Since various members such as the base end of the operation lever, the foot rest and the assist bar are arranged at positions before the seat pad as a seat in a training machine as disclosed in the above publication, there is a problem of being difficult to sit on the seat pad because these members stand as a hindrance. Particularly, if a training person is elderly, difficulty to sit becomes eminent. As a result, it is hard to call the training machine disclosed in the above publication as the one friendly to elderly people.
Further, since a plurality of weights are placed one over another to give a load to the operation lever, unit weights have to be increased or decreased every time the load is adjusted. There is also inconvenience that the adjustment of the load is cumbersome.
Furthermore, since the load can be generated only for the operation of moving the operation lever in one direction, no load can be given during the operation of moving the operation lever in the other direction, which causes a problem of poor versatility.